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Quick setup guide and manual for the video trade logging software

Installing the recorder on Metatrader4 and Metatrader5

Before (or after) installing the recording software, you’ll also need to download and install the latest XVID encoder, which is used to compress the recorder video. The software can be downloaded from https://www.xvid.org/download/

When installing the recorder, you will be asked to select the installation folder. This must be the installation folder of the Metatrader, where you wish to install the recorder. For example, if your MT4 is installed in D:\METATRADERS\Alpari UK folder, you must also select this folder as the destination location:

Once the installation is finished, you can launch your Metatarder terminal, but before you start using the recording software, you need to make sure that you have enabled DLL imports. This is done in the Expert Advisors tab of the MT4’s Options window (you can press CTRL-O to bring up this window in MT4):

Make sure that you have enabled “Allow DLL imports” as presented on the screen above. “Allow automated trading” can also be enabled, but it is not required for the plug-in to work correctly.

Recording trades using the front end indicator

To use the recorder, you need to attach the installed _recordVideo indicator (accessible under Indicators in Metatrader’s Navigator sub window) to a chosen chart, or several charts if needed. This action will display the indicator’s settings dialog, where you can change the recorder’s default parameters:

VTR offers two general operating modes – continuous recording and event driven recording. They are selected by setting this variable to “false” for continuous recording or “true” for on event recording of trades.

This parameter is used in conjunction with trade event driven recording and offers an optional additional filter for discovering new trades, that should be recorded.

The default value is zero, which means that a trade with any given magic number will initiate the recording process. Any other value will set the recorder to only record trades having the defined magic number.

This parameter is used in conjunction with trade event driven recording and is used to set the number of ticks (that occurred before the trade was placed), which should be registered at the beginning of the recording. This is an excellent way of documenting the market’s situation just before a trade was placed.

Defines how often individual frames are grabbed from the recorded chart. The parameter is used to throttle the frame grabber’s frequency, which also helps to lighten the load imposed on the terminal by the frame grabbing process.

When this parameter is set to zero, each new tick on the monitored chart will trigger the frame grabber.

All communication between the _recordVideo indicator and the recording software is routed using TCP/IP protocol on port 55556 (by default). This port can be changed if needed, but you will also be required to set the same port value in the recorder’s back-end. This is done in the “Info & Configuration” tab / Communication port.

Continuous recording mode

Continuous recording begins once the “*REC” button is pressed on a small control panel (see Control Panel section below) that will be displayed in the lower left corner of the chart once the indicator is attached. The recording is stopped and finalized when “STOP” is pressed or the indicator is removed from the chart. Pressing “*REC” will call up the recording back-end app and begin recording immediately:

Do not close this window when there are active recording processes running, as this will terminate the recording jobs!

The recorder app takes care of multiple video processing tasks and will always show the current recording status along with basic information regarding the recorded chart and selected resolution. The last column (“Recordings”) holds active “Open folder” links, which is used to bring up the folder, where individual recordings are stored ( {MT4_DATA_FOLDER}/MQL4/Files or {MT5_DATA_FOLDER}/MQL5/Files respectively ).

Chart periodicity can be changed freely during continuous recording only – such events will output several recordings (a new recording every time the chart’s periodicity is changed).

Event driven recording mode

This mode is currently only available in MT4 (MT5 support will be added in the near future).

OnEvent recording can begin once the “Start” button is pressed on a small control panel (see Control Panel section below) that will be displayed in the lower left corner of the chart once the indicator is attached. This is when the pre-buffer process is initiated, however the recording itself will begin once a new trade is detected. The recording is stopped and finalized when the trade is closed. This is also when the recorder reverts back to pre-buffering mode and is ready to detect the next trade.

Pre-buffering process is terminated once “STOP” is pressed or the indicator is removed from the chart.

Pressing “Start” will call up the recording back-end app (described above), if it is not already running.

Switching profiles, closing the recorder app or shutting down the terminal will stop the recording process regardless of the recording mode.

The recorder’s control panel

When the _recordVideo indicator is attached to a chart, on a small control panel will be displayed in the lower left corner of the chart. This panel is used to perform the following tasks:

This area (“VTR” label) is used to minimize and maximize the control panel. Note, that the panel is automatically minimized once the “*REC” or “Start” (in event driven mode) button is pressed.

STOP is used to end the recording in continuous mode or terminate the recording and stop the pre-buffering process in event driver recording mode.

*REC (or “Start” in event driven mode) is used to start the recording (or start the pre-buffering process in event driven recording and begin monitoring for new trades).

“R” is used to start the recorder back-end application, if not already started.

“X” is used to conveniently remove the _recordVideo indicator from the chart.

Updating the software to the latest version

The software can be easily updated once new features or bug fixes are released. Each time you start the recorder, the software checks for new updates. When an update is detected, it is automatically downloaded and you will be asked, if you wish to update to the latest version. You can do this right away of any time in the future, when you start the recorder. If you have the software installed on multiple MT4/MT5 terminals across your system, you will need to update all locations one by one.